Bash #2
A couple of students freeze by the front door, eyes wide. Sinking to my knees on the concrete, I set her down gently, propping her on her side again against my thigh. She looks peaceful in a way that makes me sick.
“Hey,” I say again, hoping the repetition can get into her consciousness. “Hey, stay with me. I’m right here.”
I’m talking to her, and talking to God at the same time. Somehow, that feels like the same thing right now.
Please. Don’t take her.
The siren is distant, and then it quickly isn’t anymore. Erik jogs to the curb, waving his arms to get their attention.
“Over here!” he shouts.
Boots slap on the concrete. A bag drops beside us. A woman kneels on the other side of Lydia and looks at her, trying to assess the situation. Two gloved fingers shoot to her neck. “Got it,” she says. “It’s shallow. What happened?”
“There was a bottle. Pills. I didn’t—I didn’t see what kind.”
“Okay.” She’s calm and quick. “Let’s support her airway.” She tips Lydia’s head and signals to her partner for the kit.
I slide back, not sure what to do with my hands now. Erik’s hand lands on my shoulder and stays there as we just watch.
“She’s breathing,” the EMT says, glancing up at us with the tiniest nod.
They start moving as one. Airway, pupils, vitals, one drawing up a dose of medication. “We’re administering Narcan.”
We all just wait.
Nothing.
Her chest keeps doing that really shallow rise-and-fall, and her face doesn’t change.
“Again,” the EMT says to her partner.
More footsteps slap the concrete as three people sprint towards us from across the lot—two girls, one guy. The friends I’ve seen with her before.
“Simone?” I ask, still trying to remember who is who.
One of the girls nods, tears already streaking down her face. “That’s me.”
“I was the one on the phone,” I tell her, and she just nods her head at me before finding where Lydia is.
Both girls walk over and hover at the edge, crying and craning to see her.
The guy steps beside me and sticks out his hand to me, even as the same panic and helplessness are written all over his face, too.
“I’m Sandro,” he introduces himself. “I remember you…
from the party…“ He nods his head in Lydia’s direction.
“When you…helped her. We never got properly introduced.”
“Bash.”
“The other one is my sister, Lelani, but…um, she goes by Lani…” I can see he’s rambling because he’s nervous; then he pauses, looking over at Lydia before asking, “How is she?”
I shake my head, and his drops.
The EMT shouts that they’re trying another Narcan on her.
Simone’s voice cracks trying to talk to one of the EMTs. “Is she going to be okay?”
The medic glances up without pausing, trying to be gentle with her but also more worried about getting Lydia the help she needs. “We’re doing everything we can.”
That line hits me like a memory. We’re doing everything we can. Same thing they told me, even when I knew Isabel was already gone.
The second dose goes in. For half a second, nothing happens. And then she jerks. It’s tiny at first, a twitch under her eye, her breathing hiccuping. A small sound comes from her mouth. Her eyelids flutter. She tries to move her head, and it lolls toward me, unfocused.
I take a step towards her without even meaning to. The EMT’s arm comes up. “Give us a little space.”
Lydia’s heavy eyes skim my face. I don’t know if she can see me, but I mouth the words anyway—You’re gonna be okay.
“We need to transport now,” the EMT says. “We can take one rider.”
They look at me first. I look past them to the girls. Simone is already nodding when our eyes catch.
“Go,” I tell her. “You go.”
She steps forward, frantic. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”
Erik appears at my side, voice low. “People are about to start showing up. We should probably get back inside.”
“I can’t,” I say, eyes stuck on Lydia. The sound of the stretcher clicking and being raised up makes my skin crawl. “Just…go in without me.”
“You sure?” he asks.
I nod. “Yeah, I just need a second.”
“We can cancel.” He searches my face. “Do you want me to stay with you?”
“No, no. It’s okay. Can you take over? Handle it?”
“Of course.” He pulls me into a quick hug, and I feel how stiff I am. I try to force myself to relax a little before he pulls away and walks back in.
I look around, pulling my attention off of her and taking in the hectic scene around us for the first time.
Students have started to gather around right outside the door to the building.
I see a guy standing off to the side, and I don’t know why he stands out.
Maybe it’s because he’s standing alone away from everyone, maybe because he just stands out being covered in tattoos from his neck down to his hands, or maybe it’s the distraught look on his face that stands out to me…
like he knew her, maybe? But the distance he’s kept feels odd if that was the case.
Maybe it’s nothing, just me trying to focus on anything but the panic I’m still feeling.
Sandro’s sister rushes back over to him, and he pulls her into a hug as she sobs into his chest. “Come on, we can walk back over to my car and drive to the hospital,” he tells her.
She doesn’t pull herself from his chest. I’m not sure if she even heard him. I look back at the parking lot not far from us, where my car is parked.
“I can take y’all,” I say, and Sandro turns to look at me, still holding onto his sister.
I nod my head in the direction of the parking lot. “My car is right over there. It would be a lot faster.”
He nods his head and pulls his sister back from him, guiding her and following me.